According to an article in The Register recently, their Freedom of Information request revealed that London’s Metropolitan Police requested communications data from technology companies more than 700,000 times during 2025, highlighting the scale of modern communications data collection by law enforcement.
The requests covered mobile networks, email providers and online services. Although they generally did not involve message content, they could include metadata such as account details, IP addresses and contact records.
The figures also showed a nearly 500 per cent increase in requests to Lyca Mobile. Data was also sought from services including Proton, Signal, Uber and Deliveroo. Some privacy-focused providers disputed aspects of the figures.
For all of us, the findings are a reminder that metadata can reveal a great deal about people, communications and behaviour.
For businesses, this makes prioritisation of data governance and privacy controls increasingly important.
Full article is available on The Register’s website.
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